And what was he guilty of? An engines quality is only as good as its manufacturing process allows it to be, meaning if you have precision machinery you will have precise components. If you have employees with the latest tools you will have the best quality, meaning that instead of traditional wrenches you give them torque wrenches which will allow for precise torque specifications.
This doesn't sound right. The WS-10 engine had quality issues for years and we all know it was attributed to over-reliance on the individual technicians working on each individual engine. Manufacturing equipment is usually installed on a planned schedule so why would China allow needed manufacturing equipment go uninstalled and unordered for many years while the WS-10 project languished with quality issues? Plus, lack of R&D funds would be detected very quickly by the other managers if lack of R&D were a known issue.Taking funds for R&D as well as manufacturing equipment upgrade to invest in stock market.
The fact that the WS-10 had quality issues for many years after it's initial certification means this excuse is either BS or that the embezzler was made a scapegoat. It's more likely they either found flaws after the engine was already certified or simply didn't have the required technical capability for effective mass production until years later.